Ink heating device and printing apparatus

Abstract

An ink heating device, which is incorporated in an inkjet printing apparatus, includes: a planar heating member bonded in a state where one surface of the planar heating member is thermally bonded to an outer surface of an ink tank storing ink; an elastic member, having a heat insulation property, is provided on the other surface of the planar heating member and presses the planar heating member against the ink tank; and a hardware processor that performs heating control on the planar heating member in a stepwise manner according to a stop time of a main body of the printing apparatus at a time of starting the main body of the printing apparatus.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An ink heating device incorporated in an inkjet printing apparatus, the ink heating device comprising:
 a planar heating member that is bonded in a state where one surface of the planar heating member is thermally bonded to an outer surface of an ink tank storing ink; 
 an elastic member, having a heat insulation property, (i) is provided on the other surface of the planar heating member and (ii) presses the planar heating member against the ink tank; and 
 a hardware processor that performs heating control on the planar heating member in a stepwise manner according to a stop time of a main body of the printing apparatus at a time of starting the main body of the printing apparatus. 
 
     
     
       2. The ink heating device according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a temperature detector that detects a temperature of a heating part heated by the planar heating member, 
 wherein, in a case where the stop time exceeds a predetermined threshold, the hardware processor executes:
 preheating control for increasing a temperature of the heating part to a preheating target value and maintaining the temperature; and 
 main heating control for increasing the temperature of the heating part from the preheating target value to main heating target value after the preheating control. 
 
 
     
     
       3. The ink heating device according to  claim 2 , wherein, in the preheating control, a maintaining time for maintaining the preheating target value and the heating part at the preheating target value is set in a stepwise manner according to the stop time. 
     
     
       4. The ink heating device according to  claim 3 , wherein, in the preheating control, the preheating target value and the maintaining time are set such that an average temperature change of the heating part becomes gentler as the stop time is longer. 
     
     
       5. The ink heating device according to  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a non-volatile storage that stores in advance the preheating target value and the maintaining time in the preheating control. 
 
     
     
       6. The ink heating device according to  claim 3 , further comprising:
 an acquisitor that acquires the preheating target value and the maintaining time in the preheating control from an external device. 
 
     
     
       7. The ink heating device according to  claim 2 , wherein a plurality of target values including a first target value and a second target value higher than the first target value are set as the preheating target value, and
 wherein the preheating control includes:
 a first-stage heating control of increasing the temperature of the heating part to the first target value and maintaining the temperature; and 
 a second-stage heating control of increasing the temperature of the heating part from the first target value to the second target value and maintaining the temperature after the first-stage heating control. 
 
 
     
     
       8. The ink heating device according to  claim 7 , wherein an amount of heating stages in the preheating control is increased as the stop time is longer. 
     
     
       9. The ink heating device according to  claim 2 , wherein the preheating target value is set within a range of a heat-resistant temperature of the elastic member. 
     
     
       10. The ink heating device according to  claim 2 , wherein the heating part includes at least one of ink stored in the ink tank, the ink tank, or the elastic member. 
     
     
       11. An inkjet printing apparatus comprising the ink heating device according to  claim 1 .